{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/0p0wp9tx7p/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Episode 8: Looking Ahead"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2022-05-30 (released)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis episode is also available in Hindi. You can find it in our podcast feed. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eक्वीन्स मेमोरी पॉडकास्ट का ये एपिसोड अँग्रेज़ी में है. अगर आप हिन्दी में सुनना चाहे, तो कृपया हुमारे पॉडकास्ट फीड पे जाए. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis episode brings us stories from different generations of Queens residents, from the 1970s to the present day. Each guest recounts their unique journey to calling Queens home. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eResources mentioned in the episode can be found below:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.scsny.org/\"\u003eSunnyside Community Services\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.manavi.org/\"\u003eManavi\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ca href=\"https://salganyc.org/\"\u003eSouth Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA)\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.drumnyc.org/\"\u003eDesis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM NYC)\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ca href=\"https://chhayacdc.org/\"\u003eChhaya CDC\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis episode was produced by Indranil Choudhury in conjunction with Melody Cao, Anna Williams, and Natalie Milbrodt. It was hosted by J. Faye Yuan.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixing and editing by Cory Choy with music composed by Elias Ravin. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks to Jaslin Kaur.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis podcast has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this episode are those of its creators and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of National Endowment for the Humanities, Queens Public Library, the City University of New York, or their employees.\u003c/p\u003e (general)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis audio piece was produced by the Queens Memory Project and is available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License. For inquiries, please contact queensmemory@queenslibrary.org.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Nirmal Munshi (Contributor)","Soniya Munshi (Contributor)","Rekha Malhotra (Contributor)","Drashti Brahmbhatt (Contributor)","Sabina Unni (Contributor)","Tara Aliya Kesavan (Contributor)","J. Faye Yuan (Host)","Melody Cao (Executive Producer)","Indranil Choudhury (Producer)","Natalie Milbrodt (Producer)","Anna Williams (Executive Editor)","Elias Ravin (Composer)","Cory Choy (Sound Mixer and Editor)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis episode is also available in Hindi. You can find it in our podcast feed.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eक्वीन्स मेमोरी पॉडकास्ट का ये एपिसोड अँग्रेज़ी में है. अगर आप हिन्दी में सुनना चाहे, तो कृपया हुमारे पॉडकास्ट फीड पे जाए.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis episode brings us stories from different generations of Queens residents, from the 1970s to the present day. Each guest recounts their unique journey to calling Queens home.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eResources mentioned in the episode can be found below:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.scsny.org/\"\u003eSunnyside Community Services\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.manavi.org/\"\u003eManavi\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://salganyc.org/\"\u003eSouth Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.drumnyc.org/\"\u003eDesis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM NYC)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://chhayacdc.org/\"\u003eChhaya CDC\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\u003c/ul\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis episode was produced by Indranil Choudhury in conjunction with Melody Cao, Anna Williams, and Natalie Milbrodt. It was hosted by J. Faye Yuan.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMixing and editing by Cory Choy with music composed by Elias Ravin.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSpecial thanks to Jaslin Kaur.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis podcast has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this episode are those of its creators and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of National Endowment for the Humanities, Queens Public Library, the City University of New York, or their employees.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis audio piece was produced by the Queens Memory Project and is available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License. For inquiries, please contact queensmemory@queenslibrary.org.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/160/608/small/Screenshot_%28127%29.png?1653938200","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - QMP_08_IndranilChoudhury_LookingAhead_English_3__Master2022-05-23.mp3"]},"duration":1197.048,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/160/608/small/Screenshot_%28127%29.png?1653938200","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/160/608/original/QMP_08_IndranilChoudhury_LookingAhead_English_3__Master2022-05-23.mp3?1653913024","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1197.048,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: This episode of the Queens Memory Podcast has been produced in English. If you’d like to listen in Hindi, you can find that version in our podcast feed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1.0,17.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury  क्वीन्स मेमोरी पॉडकास्ट का ये एपिसोड अँग्रेज़ी में है| अगर आप हिन्दी में सुनना चाहे, तो कृपया हमारे पॉडकास्ट फ़ीड पे जाए|","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=17.0,20.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: You’re listening to Season 3 of the Queens Memory Podcast. My name is J. Faye Yuan, and I’m the Queens Memory Curator. In this season, “Our Major Minor Voices,” we feature stories from our neighbors of Asian descent in Queens, New York.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=20.0,36.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: Too often, these voices are deemed “minor” – as in “of a minority.” But in this series – as in our borough – they are a major force. One in five Queens residents identifies as Asian-American. The stories they tell reflect their ongoing struggles and triumphs. They are our stories – a vital part of who we are – and together they represent a snapshot of our ever-changing neighborhoods as they are now.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=36.0,73.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: My name is Indranil Choudhury. I'm in Jackson Heights, and this is where the story begins.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=73.0,79.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: On 73rd street in Jackson Heights is a residential co-op built in the 1960s. It’s a relatively young building by New York standards, but in the sixty odd years that it's been standing there, the neighborhood around it has never stopped changing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=79.0,96.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: In this episode, our producer Indranil Choudhury introduces us to stories from three residents who undertook very different journeys to calling the building home.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=96.0,107.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: First up is Nirmal Munshi, who came to New York from Lucknow, a city in northern India. Let’s listen.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=107.0,115.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Nirmal Munshi: I came to the US 50 years ago. Since then, I’ve mostly lived in and around Jackson Heights. My first few years here were the hardest. At that time, arranged marriages were the norm in India. I was very outspoken, so I would just say I don’t like this, I don’t want to do this. My father was quite open minded but the rest of my family were very conservative. When I made the decision to come to the US, I was leaving all that behind. So going back was never really an option for me.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=115.0,160.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Nirmal Munshi: It was 1972. Obviously there were hardly any Indian shops here at that time. Somebody would open a candy store, someone else would open a small grocery store. So many grocery stores came and went! When I had my third baby, Soniya was eight years old, my younger one was five and she was very excited too.  So Soniya would say I want to change the diapers, the younger one would say I want to feed the baby, put him in my lap and give me the bottle. I would be sitting their supervising them while I chopped veggies. (laughs). So it was fine you know, it was comfortable. It was not impossible.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=160.0,215.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Nirmal’s daughter Soniya is a professor of Asian American Studies at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY. While some of her earliest memories are right here in Queens, she describes how her relationship with Queens evolved as she grew older.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=215.0,234.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Soniya Munshi: When you’re living in a neighborhood and you’re young, your perspective is very limited. So it was actually when I was working in Sunnyside Community Center, by chance I met someone, we started chatting because we were about the same age. And he told me that he moved to Jackson Heights because it was a gay neighborhood. And I was totally stunned. I remember that feeling of like, wait Jackson Heights is a gay neighborhood? I thought it was a South Asian neighborhood. Just to say that I think it was really through working in Queens that I started to learn more about Queens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=234.0,266.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Soniya Munshi:  After that job actually I left Queens for several years to work in New Jersey. I worked at a South Asian women’s organization called Manavi. Even though it was in New Jersey, we worked very closely with organizations in New York City. And it was through that job that I started to learn a lot about the South Asian community that I wouldn’t have known myself growing up. And it wasn’t something that, you know, in the 80s and 90s we didn’t have a curriculum in school to teach us about South Asian history, South Asian American history.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=266.0,294.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Soniya Munshi: I also very involved with SALGA, which is the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association. This is like the late 1990s to the early 2000s, through 9/11. I was also a volunteer with DRUM, which is an organization that’s very fundamental to Jackson Heights, I mean I should say Queens and New York City organizing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=294.0,312.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Soniya Munshi: Similar to what my mom was describing, I didn’t always feel very clear about how I belonged in a South Asian community. And I think that it was through getting involved in community work that I started to feel like that’s actually my place.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=312.0,330.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Through all this time, the neighborhood that Soniya knew as a child was changing slowly but steadily.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=330.0,337.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Soniya Munshi: Like Jackson Heights, I remember the change from it just being a sprinkling of stores, to like this big commercial strip when all of a sudden it’s referred to as Little India. But I would say that happened towards the later 80s, the early 90s.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=337.0,355.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: As the South Asian community planted its roots in Queens, there was one more essential service in the midst of all the grocery stores and saree shops that was in high demand — entertainment.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=355.0,372.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Soniya’s partner Rekha Malhotra grew up in Queens around the same time as her. Popularly known as DJ Rekha, they cut their teeth curating, promoting, and DJing in the New York nightlife scene starting in the 80s. From their iconic party Basement Bhangra that ran for 20 years, to playing sold out shows at mainstream events like Central Park Summerstage, they fundamentally altered the nightlife scene by introducing the sound of bhangra to the clubs of New York.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=372.0,411.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: It was as a student in Queens College that Rekha made the first advances into what would eventually become a career.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=411.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Rekha Malhotra: I’ve actually never DJ’d at Queens College, somebody should fix that. (laughs) But I was involved in the India club. There was no South Asian club at the time. The previous members had embezzled money to buy pagers. (laughs). Such a desi thing to do. So we were completely defunded.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=420.0,439.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Rekha Malhotra: I think I learnt to become a curator there. In that we threw parties but I wanted to do them in a way that was, the timing of the parties was accessible to women who couldn’t go out at night. Folks that were involved in caregiving or had restrictive parents. So, I did the ‘tell your parents you’re at the library party’, and we booked bands, there were very few bands. We booked this band called The Avengers, a Pakistani Afghani band that were legendary.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=439.0,469.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Rekha Malhotra: We booked DJs that ended up becoming legendary on their own, like Jay Dhabi, Bobby Johal. These were the DJs that eventually comprised the Indian remix scene, which is what fueled a lot of the shops in Jackson Heights for a good while. They would basically take Bollywood songs and put beats on them, make them more danceable. And those things sold like crazy.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=469.0,494.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Throughout their music career, Rekha has been committed to investigating what they represent as a South Asian artist. Whether it’s creating cultural spaces through their parties, or serving on the board of Chhaya CDC, for them, art and activism go hand in hand.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=494.0,510.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Rekha Malhotra: I think being authentic to your art is what is the most inviting thing for people. I was never trying to placate Western ideas of what Indian was. I think it’s a real problem how in the States we think Indian is Hindu culture. And I feel a responsibility to not fall into those tropes. Like my rider says, if I’m not doing visuals, then no religious images, no elephants, none of that stuff.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=510.0,539.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Rekha Malhotra: Taking it back to Queens, there are some amazing queer Latinx parties happening, and sometimes they book South Asian DJs. And these are people who are activists who are making music to create cultural spaces, and I think that’s a very Queens thing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=539.0,559.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: What Rekha describes is part of a larger movement of people getting involved in community organizing. This is in response to an urgent need to pay attention to hyperlocal concerns like language justice, senior care, and political representation that reflects the neighborhoods of Queens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=559.0,579.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: The 2021 New York City Council elections were historic for precisely this reason. Across the city, young people with extensive experience in local organizing hoped to mobilize the support of the communities they grew up in, and bring the representation they needed. Further east, in Glen Oaks, the 24-year-old daughter of Sikh Punjabi immigrants was making her case.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=579.0,602.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"[Jaslin Kaur’s Feels Like Family campaign ad: I was born right here in Eastern Queens, playing in Alley Pond Park, riding the Q46 bus, celebrating birthdays at Jackson Diner. In fact, this district doesn’t just feel like home to me, it feels like family. My name is Jaslin Kaur, and I’m running for City Council because I was taught that family comes first. I was raised by Sikh Punjabi immigrants.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=602.0,635.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: While Jaslin’s campaign energized a multiethnic, intergenerational base — young organizers came out in overwhelming numbers to support her vision of local government. Drashti Brambhatt, who was 23 at the time, shares how her own journey inspired her to become one of Jaslin’s fiercest advocates.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=635.0,652.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Drashti Brambhatt: There were a lot of things in my childhood that I couldn’t quite put my finger on or have the vocabulary to describe. When we were living in an apartment in Elmhurst, had a severe case of bedbugs. I remember my sister who was an eight grader or something, very, very young, having to help translate legal documents because my parents decided to sue the landlord.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=652.0,680.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Drashti Brambhatt: Another huge part of my story, that feels normal in Queens, my parents you know, they…were undocumented. They both overstayed their visas. And I’ll explain what that really meant to me as a kid. That meant my parents not being able to travel anywhere outside of the US. They couldn’t even visit India when their own parents died, when my mum’s sister died. Like they couldn’t do these normal things of being able to go to your sister’s funeral. I saw the impact of that growing up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=680.0,730.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Drashti Brambhatt: And that’s how I got involved in organizing, and I started working for the Democratic Socialists of America, specifically the Queens chapter. I was very involved with the electoral working group and in one of our endorsement meetings this young woman came to seek our endorsement.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=730.0,761.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Drashti Brambhatt: And listening to Jaslin speak, you know a young woman talking about the challenges she faced growing up. Talking about her dad who rides his taxi from 4 to 5am all the way to midnight sometimes, and her mom who works the night shift at Stop \u0026 Shop, and her sometimes not being able to see either of her parents in a day after coming back from school. And the way she talked about it, it brought tears to my eyes. You know, I felt so connected to that story of hers.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=761.0,799.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"[montage of Jaslin speaking at various public demonstrations]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=799.0,848.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Drashti quickly got to work helping Jaslin put her campaign together. A few months later, she received an interesting proposition from Jaslin.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=848.0,857.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Drashti Brambhatt: One day in January, Jaslin calls me and says, Drashti, like I need you to be my campaign manager, please, (laughs), like come on, we gotta do this together. And I was like, absolutely not! I’m in my last semester of graduate school, this is not happening. And she, she convinced me! She talked about the once in a lifetime opportunity we had to elect a South Asian woman to City Council, to bring the representation to the Council to do all this stuff we wanted to do. You know, it was never about just winning the election, it was about how can we energize all these people we grew up with, all these uncles and auntys to finally care and vote in this election, and how can the youth in this community advance us forward.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=857.0,913.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: And the youth came out in huge numbers to support Jaslin’s campaign. Ten minutes from Jaslin’s district, in Nassau county, another young organizer, Sabina Unni, became instrumental in helping the campaign articulate their policy vision.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=913.0,928.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sabina Unni: It's funny a lot of the big issues that people talk to to us on the phone, on the doors are like hyper, hyper local concerns, like the number one thing was tree pruning and how a lot of trees fell in the streets, and stray pets, how there are cats everywhere, and robocalls.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=928.0,945.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sabina Unni: I think what that translates to is government responsiveness, and feeling like you, you know, you have no one to call when you have a tree branch blocking your driveway or you have a stray cat. And there's like a lot of old people in the district, it's one of the naturally occurring retirement communities. So like there's a ton of older South Asians who, some live at home, some don't live at home. But having that necessary infrastructure to allow South Asians to age in place, whether that's like, you know, some things that people talked about in the campaign were like support for caregivers to allow their parents to live at home, and then to take care of their parents and not to have to, like, go bankrupt or quit their jobs, or like have to choose between working a job and caring for their parent or somebody in their community. Or to have access to food they recognize and like caretakers who speak languages they speak, or, if it's if they're living at home, like things like grab bars and small home modifications to make it so they can stay in their homes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=945.0,1005.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sabina Unni: So, yeah, there’s, I think, so many issues that when you start to think about it are hyper local. And I think that’s why Jaslin was so awesome, because she was able to like take this - OK the broader thing you're fighting against? Capitalism. What does this mean in people’s daily lives? Can’t afford to stay at home because your shower’s too dangerous. Like how do these two things merge with each other?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1005.0,1016.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Almost a year after the election, Drashti reflects on what the experience meant to her.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1016.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Drashti Brambhatt: At the campaign party, you know, we were having speeches from a variety of volunteers, and it was a pretty regimented schedule, you know, like everyone got 3 minutes, we had 5 speakers. And then all of a sudden before I was passing it off to Jaslin, one Punjabi uncle says “I would actually like to say a few words”. And I was like oh my gosh no, this uncle did not get the memo! And I was like okay, you know, let’s just give him the mic, worst comes to worst if it gets out of hand, I’ll try to take the mic away and back. So I give him the mic, and he went up there and just spoke from his heart. And he talked about, “I know that a lot of people my age are afraid when they see “socialism”, or housing for everyone, or this for everyone or that for everyone, but I want to remind everyone that these are values that have been with us forever.” And he talks about the history of socialist organizing in Queens, and socialist organizing in Punjab and India at large. And he really, for the first time, I felt it really clicked in my mind, that yes we had lost the election by a few votes, but there was something else that we created. This direct link between generations in East Queens. Bringing this idea, these progressive values that were always there, it wasn’t like all of a sudden we brought it in and we were talking about it, that they were always there. We just activated this type of organizing in the community.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1020.0,1109.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: Jaslin’s campaign brought together a huge group of people who were willing to examine what community meant to them. To look past their differences for the sake of looking ahead.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1109.0,1124.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Indranil Choudhury: For the Queens Memory Podcast, I’m Indranil Choudhury.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1124.0,1130.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: Join us next time for more stories from our Queens neighbors. The Queens Memory Podcast is a production of the Queens Memory Project. For full transcripts and show notes from this episode and past seasons, visit QueensMemory dot org forward slash podcast. This episode was produced by Indranil Choudhury in conjunction with Anna Williams, and Natalie Milbrodt. Mixing and editing by Cory Choy with music composed by Elias Ravin.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1130.0,1162.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: Special thanks to Jaslin Kaur.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1162.0,1165.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: This podcast has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this episode are those of its creators and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of National Endowment for the Humanities, Queens Public Library, the City University of New York, or their employees.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1165.0,1190.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608/transcript/42905/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"J. Faye Yuan: I'm J. Faye Yuan. Listen with us next time on Queens Memory.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1826/collection_resources/74694/file/160608#t=1190.0,1197.048"}]}]}]}